The guitar rumbles on until the drums start pounding. And then the voice starts, “Pretty Woman,”
I hear a loud noise behind closed doors down the hall, almost a sense of panic. The door flings open and a pair of feet stride down the hall with some urgency.
“What is that?” my teenage daughter asks with that sense of wonder in her voice.
“That is one of the greatest singers ever to sing a rock song,” I reply.
She gives me one of those deadpan looks.
“Roy Orbison. Pretty Woman. It has an interesting story behind it.’
“Shh,” she says as she points a finger at me. My daughter, a small teenage rebel, listens carefully to the whole song. “Can you play it again?” she asks. "And again," she asks for the third and fourth time.
“That is utterly brilliant,” she smiles as she starts to sing along. “How come I have never heard this before?”
“1964, oldies stations, 16 years old. Take your pick.”
She frowns and wanders off still singing loudly. “Pretty Woman…”
I am always amazed when something reaches her like this does. Good music is always good music.
“Maybe I will like Flowers once it stops being overplayed. Who knows?” I sigh.
Also, if you want to have Scoot list it in the highlights, you need to post a link in his subscriber chat (see the button in the middle of the page). 😎
It’s a little bit silver. There’s a small window in the side. I hold it up to my eye, but I can’t see anything. Should’ve gone to Specsavers.
It moves in my hand. Is it trying to fly away? There’s a definite tug against my hand. It also warms slightly to the touch. I hold it tighter.
What to do?
Slowly, an idea forms in the man part of my brain. Maybe I could smash it open to find out what’s inside? The rest of my brain kicks in, growling what a stupid idea that would be. How unkind. How uncaring. My manbrain is unconvinced, but relents.
There’s a beep from my phone. A new device is asking to connect to my Bluetooth. I accept, and a chat window appears instantly on my screen.
- Can you please let my ship go. I’m trying to make it home.
I hold the item tight and begin my reply.
- Where is home?
- You know when you look up to the Milky Way at night, and you see millions upon millions of stars.
- Sure.
- My planet orbits one of those. Now, can you let me go so I can return home.
- Jesus! Alien life visiting earth for the first time. But this is huge!
- This is not the first time. Please let go.
I think about it. Here’s me, a giant to this being, holding its very life force in the palm of my hand. I could let it go, or I could work this to my advantage. Manbrain kicks in.
- No, I think I’m going to post about you.
I hold the bullet-sized item in-between my thumb and forefinger and start up a live reel on Instagram.
- Hey everyone! Look at what I have…
Before I can finish, an incredibly small but powerful laser blows my fingertip to shreds. The little ship flies off before I can work out what is happening. Blood pumps from my tattered digit and I begin to feel a bit gross.
Hearts appear on my screen. People are liking this. People are liking me. This is a turn up for the books.
- Thanks everyone. I just need to get this cleaned up, and I’ll be right back.
I stupidly press the screen with my ruined finger. Nothing happens except a searing pain. You must need your full fingertip to be able to toggle your videos on and off.
I resolve to get help. This is going to be a long video.
Hey Gerard! Sorry about that—when i go to grab entries i pull from the chat thread, because people post at different times and it can be hard to keep track. Please share your stories in the chat thread! If you share this one in this weeks thread i will include it next week.
Mercy!
I turn the volume up, way up.
Du du du du du
The guitar rumbles on until the drums start pounding. And then the voice starts, “Pretty Woman,”
I hear a loud noise behind closed doors down the hall, almost a sense of panic. The door flings open and a pair of feet stride down the hall with some urgency.
“What is that?” my teenage daughter asks with that sense of wonder in her voice.
“That is one of the greatest singers ever to sing a rock song,” I reply.
She gives me one of those deadpan looks.
“Roy Orbison. Pretty Woman. It has an interesting story behind it.’
“Shh,” she says as she points a finger at me. My daughter, a small teenage rebel, listens carefully to the whole song. “Can you play it again?” she asks. "And again," she asks for the third and fourth time.
“That is utterly brilliant,” she smiles as she starts to sing along. “How come I have never heard this before?”
“1964, oldies stations, 16 years old. Take your pick.”
She frowns and wanders off still singing loudly. “Pretty Woman…”
I am always amazed when something reaches her like this does. Good music is always good music.
“Maybe I will like Flowers once it stops being overplayed. Who knows?” I sigh.
Kids today! You have the attitude nailed. 😎
Also, if you want to have Scoot list it in the highlights, you need to post a link in his subscriber chat (see the button in the middle of the page). 😎
Write about a new discovery:
What’s this?
It’s a little bit silver. There’s a small window in the side. I hold it up to my eye, but I can’t see anything. Should’ve gone to Specsavers.
It moves in my hand. Is it trying to fly away? There’s a definite tug against my hand. It also warms slightly to the touch. I hold it tighter.
What to do?
Slowly, an idea forms in the man part of my brain. Maybe I could smash it open to find out what’s inside? The rest of my brain kicks in, growling what a stupid idea that would be. How unkind. How uncaring. My manbrain is unconvinced, but relents.
There’s a beep from my phone. A new device is asking to connect to my Bluetooth. I accept, and a chat window appears instantly on my screen.
- Can you please let my ship go. I’m trying to make it home.
I hold the item tight and begin my reply.
- Where is home?
- You know when you look up to the Milky Way at night, and you see millions upon millions of stars.
- Sure.
- My planet orbits one of those. Now, can you let me go so I can return home.
- Jesus! Alien life visiting earth for the first time. But this is huge!
- This is not the first time. Please let go.
I think about it. Here’s me, a giant to this being, holding its very life force in the palm of my hand. I could let it go, or I could work this to my advantage. Manbrain kicks in.
- No, I think I’m going to post about you.
I hold the bullet-sized item in-between my thumb and forefinger and start up a live reel on Instagram.
- Hey everyone! Look at what I have…
Before I can finish, an incredibly small but powerful laser blows my fingertip to shreds. The little ship flies off before I can work out what is happening. Blood pumps from my tattered digit and I begin to feel a bit gross.
Hearts appear on my screen. People are liking this. People are liking me. This is a turn up for the books.
- Thanks everyone. I just need to get this cleaned up, and I’ll be right back.
I stupidly press the screen with my ruined finger. Nothing happens except a searing pain. You must need your full fingertip to be able to toggle your videos on and off.
I resolve to get help. This is going to be a long video.
"Manbrain kicks in." 🤣
For some reason, my July 4 FFF entry didn't get entered. https://gmdileo.substack.com/p/artifacts?utm_source=publication-search
Hey Gerard! Sorry about that—when i go to grab entries i pull from the chat thread, because people post at different times and it can be hard to keep track. Please share your stories in the chat thread! If you share this one in this weeks thread i will include it next week.
No problemmo. My bad, definitely. I was waiting for a multi-part series to end before posting it and then just forgot.
'Twas a good story!